Obesity has a greater detrimental impact on the health of African American women than on any other racial or gender group. Nearly 80% of African American women are overweight or obese in the United States. Hypertension and insulin resistance are more prevalent among African American women as compared to men and Caucasians. These conditions put them at increased risk for the development of diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease.

Recent studies have reported that a substance named Nitric Oxide (NO)may have some beneficial effect on how the body handles blood sugar and blood pressure. Of interest,some studies have shown that African Americans have decreased function of NO in their blood vessels.

In this study proposal the investigators will test if increasing NO function with a PDE-5 inhibitor (sildenafil citrate) will improve pre-diabetes and the health of the inner layer of the blood vessels in obese African American women.

Race will be self-defined, but only subjects who report both parents of the same race will be included.

Age 18-60 years old.

The investigators will recruit subjects with wide range of BMI 30-45 kg/m2.

Subjects who have metabolic syndrome or who have a fasting insulin >13. The diagnosis include 3 of the following:

Fasting blood glucose of greater than 100 Triglyceride levels of greater than 150 HDL cholesterol of less than 50 in women Blood pressure of at least 130/85, or on blood pressure medicine Waist girth of more than 35 inches in women. Subjects of childbearing potential will be required to have a negative serum/urine pregnancy test. In addition, they will be asked to use a reliable contraceptive method prior to enrollment as determined by the PI (Dr. Cyndya Shibao).

Exclusion Criteria:

Previous allergic reactions to any of the study medication (sildenafil) or inability to take study medications as prescribed during the course of the study.

Type 1 or 2 diabetes mellitus as defined by a fasting glucose of 126 mg/dl or greater.

Any underlying or acute disease requiring regular medication which could possibly pose a threat to the subject or make implementation of the protocol or interpretation of the study results difficult.

History of alcohol or drug abuse.

Mental conditions rendering the subject unable to understand the nature, scope and possible consequences of the study.

Inability to comply with the protocol, e.g. uncooperative attitude, inability to return for follow-up visits, and unlikelihood of completing the study.

Patients must not be taking nitratest in any form (e.g., nitroglycerin, isosorbide dinitrate, nitroprusside, and others) during this study

Patients on alpha-blocking drugs (doxazosin, terazosin , or prazosin) will be excluded

Patients on protease inhibitors (ritonavir and others) will be excluded

Contacts and Locations

Choosing to participate in a study is an important personal decision. Talk with your doctor and family members or friends about deciding to join a study.
To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the Contacts provided below.
For general information, see Learn About Clinical Studies.

Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01334554